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Want to Maximize Sexual Satisfaction? Marriage Might Not be the Answer: Study

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A successful marriage can bring many positive things to your life (think: deep love, trust and a one-of-a-kind partnership) — but is marriage also the ticket to optimal satisfaction in the bedroom? According to a study on sexual satisfaction among different relationship-status groups, not necessarily.

Related: Is Gen Z really the least sexually active generation?

Which couples have the most sexual satisfaction?

So who does have the highest level of sexual satisfaction? Apparently, it’s unmarried couples who live separately from their partners. 

In a study published in The Journal of Sex Research, study author Elyakim Kislev looked at the reported sexual satisfaction — which, when discussing the study in Psychology Today, Kislev defines “as the affective response or feedback that informs individuals’ rating of their sexual relationship and the extent to which sexual desires are met” — of seven types of couples. The types of situations that the study analyzed included married (and living together), never married (and single), never married (and living apart), never married (and cohabitating), divorced or separated (and single), divorced or separated (and living apart from a new partner) and divorced or separated (and currently cohabitating with a new partner). 

See also: Eyes wide shut? Research explores what we don’t want to know about romantic partners

While the study found that, overall, the people that scored their sexual satisfaction the lowest were those without a partner, it also found that marriage was not necessarily key to sexual satisfaction. While having a partner (whether married or unmarried) tended to raise levels of sexual satisfaction, being married didn’t equate to more satisfaction than unmarried people with partners. 

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So, if you want a better sex life, it seems like rushing down the aisle might not be the only (or best) solution. Instead, you might want to consider other ways to learn more about pleasure and intimacy



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